© Copyright – 2013 – Athletics Illustrated
Lanni Marchant, the current Canadian marathon record holder will be competing in the 2013 Canadian Cross Country Championships on Saturday, November 30th in Vancouver, BC. First, she will represent Canada at the Chiba Ekiden relay in Chiba, Japan one week before on the 23rd. Chris Winter will also do the double and compete in both the Chiba Ekiden as well as the Canadian Cross Country Championships.
The London, Ontario native broke the 28-year-old Canadian marathon record, which was previously held by Sylvia Ruegger, by finishing the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon on October 20th this year in two hours and 28 minutes exactly. Ruegger’s record stood since 1985 at 2:28:36 – she set the record in the Houston Marathon.
Marchant, a 29-year-old lawyer who now practices in Chattanooga, TN came to prominence by running the 2012 Rotterdam Marathon on April 15th in a personal best time of 2h:31.50. She finished in fifth place, while teammate Krista DuChene of Brantford, Ontario finished right behind her in 2:32.06. Both failed to make the 2012 London Olympic Games team and had protested, only to be denied again after the protest, an appeal and subsequent arbitration hearing.
Since then, Marchant has continued to compete at a very high level and has set several personal bests during 2013 including 16:07.02 5000 metres, 10km in 31:57, 1:11:38 for the half-marathon and set a new course record at the historic Around the Bay 30k, finishing in 1:44:40.
Marchant joins several competitive Canadian women who are set to toe-the-line on Jericho Beach, including Rachel Cliff, Natasha Wodak, Erin Burrett, Sabrina Wilkie, and Megan Brown – the defending champion as well as Maria Bernard.
